World No. 3 Alexander Zverev Spoils The Party And Upsets 19 Year Old Tennis Phenom Carlos Alcaraz in a 4 Set Thriller At The French Open
Zverev def. Alcaraz 6-4 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7)
Alexander Zverev showed up today knowing he would have to play his very best if he was gonna have a shot at beating 19 year old tennis phenom Carlos Alcaraz. Just three weeks ago the two met in Madrid where Alcaraz dismantled the German in straight sets. Vegas adjusted their line for this one, dubbing the kid a gigantic -455 favorite. If you asked me beforehand I woulda said Carlos in straight sets. I was dead wrong. Instead the 19 year old came out shaky while Zverev couldn't have looked better. Through two sets Alcaraz had twice as many unforced errors than Zverev. He was all over the place and the World No. 3 took advantage.
Things began to turn in the 3rd set. Carlos found his first serve and was getting deep and deeper into Zverev's service games. Finally he broke him to force the 4th and the place went nuts.
The fourth set itself was something else. After double faulting to set Zverev up to serve for the match, Carlos broke back to level the set at 5 all. The set went to an all important tiebreak that was nothing short of electric. Do yourself a favor and watch the four minute clip below of the entire tiebreak.
(shout out to the good folks at Reddit for putting this together)
Incredible point after incredible point. Real tough for Carlos to have the set point on his racket and blow it like that. Props to Zverev for finally coming through and beating a top 10 opponent at a grand slam. Kind of an evil over good moment in the sport, which you need sometimes. Little different situation for Carlos having to win a best of five set match vs. Zverev, but credit to the German for playing some of the best tennis of his life there. He was lights out.
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As for Carlos, listen he's 19 years old. Making the quarters at a slam at that age is no small task, but everyone was begging for a semifinal vs. the big guys. Didn't happen here, but you will hear the name Carlos Alcaraz for a long fucking time.
Zverev will get the winner of Rafa-Djokovic in the semis. That's getting ready to start over at Tennis Channel. Djokovic sitting around a -230 favorite. The match being at night does not favor Nadal in terms of the conditions of the clay, but it's still Rafa at Roland Garros. My gut tells me Novak in 4, but let's hope for a thriller.